Research.My research aims to understand how climate change interacts with human societies, how people may adapt to climate impacts, and how climate adaptation measures can be designed and implemented in a just and equitable way. Because of the complexity of climate and society interactions, my research is highly interdisciplinary, and I strive to connect methods, disciplines, and researchers from across geographies and fields.
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Environmental Migration in BangladeshMy dissertation work combines research in earth science, social science, and computational modeling to understand how changing environmental and livelihood conditions impact migration decisions in coastal Bangladesh. I have developed an original agent-based model that combines environmental shocks with livelihood activities and behavioral psychology theories to understand the complex dynamics of migration decisions.
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Climate Gentrification in the U.S.I am interested in exploring how climate change interacts with urban resilience and equity in the United States. I am currently the Principal Investigator of a cross-institutional and interdisciplinary project of graduate students supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). Our project uses existing datasets and unsupervised machine learning to identify typologies of combined climate, socioeconomic, and housing vulnerabilities along the U.S. East Coast.
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Equity in Disaster Impacts and Response in the U.S.As part of my postdoctoral training in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland, I have a series of projects investigating equity in disaster and climatic effects as well as disaster aid and response. I am leading the investigation of how future sea-level rise scenarios may result in disproportionate isolation of minority communities along the U.S. coast. Initial results highlight a previously unidentified concern for community vulnerability to sea-level rise, with implications for justice in adaptation and infrastructure resilience.
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Latest Publications
“Applying Machine Learning to Social Datasets: A Study of Migration in Southwestern Bangladesh Using Random Forests” Best, K.B., Gilligan, J., Baroud, H., Carrico, A., Donato, K., Mallick, B. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-022-01915-1 (2022)
“Climate Gentrification: Methods, Gaps, and Framework for Future Research”, Best, K. & Jouzi, Z.. Frontiers in Climate, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2022.828067 (2022)
“Modeling multi-level patterns of environmental migration in Bangladesh: An agent-based approach” Best, K.B., Qu, A., Gilligan, J. In 2021 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC). https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC52266.2021.9715380 (2021)
“Extreme weather and marriage among girls and women in Bangladesh” Carrico, A. R., Donato, K. M., Best, K. B., &
Gilligan, J. Global Environmental Change, 65, 102160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102160 (2020)
“Climate Gentrification: Methods, Gaps, and Framework for Future Research”, Best, K. & Jouzi, Z.. Frontiers in Climate, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2022.828067 (2022)
“Modeling multi-level patterns of environmental migration in Bangladesh: An agent-based approach” Best, K.B., Qu, A., Gilligan, J. In 2021 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC). https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC52266.2021.9715380 (2021)
“Extreme weather and marriage among girls and women in Bangladesh” Carrico, A. R., Donato, K. M., Best, K. B., &
Gilligan, J. Global Environmental Change, 65, 102160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102160 (2020)
More PublicationsGoogle Scholar: Kelsea Best
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